Vale's Most Wanted Man?
by Crouching Tiger Hidden EOBois
Summary: Roman Torchwick is dead, his reign is over and the name Torchwick has left everyone's mind, for now. Unknown to all but a select few is Romans heir, his son, the man who will continue his legacy. This is the story of Draden Torchwick and his journey as the new head of the Torchwick crime Syndicate, and his struggle to live up to his father's infamous name.
1. Chapter 1: How It All began

**Valyrym: Welp, Here I am, Posting my first fanfic, I evolved from a reader to a writer due to my favorite author Novandalis encouraging me to post my work, My my, how the time flies :P. But in all seriousness I hope everyone enjoys my work as much as I enjoy making it, anyway, Constructive criticism is very much appreciated and i hope you enjoy :) (Also check Novan Out, He makes great stories.)**

 **Prick: Hey there, I'll introduce myself at the bottom.**

* * *

In the kingdom of Vale, there was one name known to all, hunters and huntresses, civilians and authorities alike, and that name was Torchwick. Widely considered the biggest crime lord in all of Vale,if not all of Remnant, Roman Torchwick was known and feared far and wide until the day he died fighting off a military raid on one of his storehouses, seemingly ending the Torchwick name.

However, unknown to all, was the fact that he had a heir to whom he left his legacy, his son. Born in Vacuo and raised in secret by his faunus mother, Mariana Lavender, and hidden from the light of the underworld and his fathers' deeds.

Draden Torchwick, a 17 year old fox faunus, lived a modest, mostly peaceful life in his home deep in Vacuo's Flora forest. That was, until he received a letter notifying him of his father's death. Draden, wishing to be at his father's funeral, headed off to Vale to attend the ceremony. However, soon after the funeral finished, the heir was approached by a mysterious woman who introduced herself as Neopolitan, who took him to the underworld to take Roman's throne; despite never having never stolen nor led in his life.

"Okay now Draden, your wonderful Father is leaving on a important trip for a while so be a good boy while I'm gone, alright?

"Okay Daddy. When will you be back?" The child asked.

" _Daddy_? You're a bit old to still be calling me that aren't you? Roman muttered under his breath. "Anyways, I'm not all too sure when I'll be back, so I'm going to need you to be the man of the house while I'm gone. You can handle that, right?"

"Yeah! I can do anything you can do Daddy." Draden replied energetically.

"Well, I wouldn't say _everything,_ Champ, but you can manage this. You're a Torchwick after all! Natural talent and a wicked sense of fashion runs through our blood, ya know?" The orange-haired criminal extraordinaire bragged with a chuckle. The small smile that had been tugging at his lips died down though as he took another good look at his young son.

"Well." He drawled as he stood up and grabbed his trusty cane, "I suppose I'll be on my way now, goodbye Draden, take good care of your mother, alright?" The man smiled once more, not bothering to wait for a response.

"Sure thing daddy, see ya soon, bye-bye." Draden waved his father goodbye enthusiastically. The man walked outside, into the warmth of the spring, sporting a gentle smile and started to walk down the long road from his house in Vacuo's Flora forest to the small nearby town, his silhouette fading into the horizon.

* * *

"Uhhgh." Draden opened his eyes, only to squint immediately as rays of light flowing through the window decided to flood his corneas.

 _That dream again…_

"It's been years…He's _not_ coming back." The teen said aloud to himself, gritting his teeth as a bit of venom leaked into his voice. _"Guess I can't help but remember him. Do I even…"_ He didn't finish his question, choosing instead to let out a deep sigh and opening his eyes.

Draden slowly sat up, a somewhat depressed look in his eyes "What a great way to start the day off. Still, might as well drag myself out of bed." He slowly got out of bed and took a pair of plain jeans along with a worn achieve men t-shirt from his old oak dresser, and a stray thought flew through his head when he saw his reflection in his mirror. "I wonder what the old man is up to right now…"

After getting dressed, Draden made his way downstairs and into the kitchen to make breakfast for himself and his mother, only to notice his a letter with the Torchwick family emblem on it sitting on the dining table.

"The letter was in the mail this morning, it's addressed to you." Mariana, his mother, informed him in a sleepy voice as she walked into the kitchen.

"Well how about that? I was actually just thinking 'bout what in Dust's name Dad has been up to these past years. Speak of the Devil and He'll appear, or something like that, right? I guess, in this case, he'll send you a letter, I guess." Draden opened the letter and started to read it, muttering to himself as his face became pale. " _What in the bloody hell_... no, no no no no no."

Mariana's ears perked up at the sound of her sons distress. "What is it, dear?" she asked, obviously concerned by her son's reaction to the letter.

"This letter, it's from someone named Neopolitan, but it... it says Roman died last week, in some accident while working" Draden said, a bit of sadness already edging in on his voice.

"No... Roman..." Mariana put her head in her hands, sitting down at the kitchen table. "All this time I trusted you, _**believed**_ with all my heart you'd come back. You _**had**_ to. And yet... and yet you leave like _**this**_ , a thousand miles away! God damn it Roman! I trusted you to come back, I..." Tears began to streak down her cheeks, hidden from sight as she buried her face into her palms.

"The letter...it says there's going to be a funeral in Vale, Mother..." Draden added in a low voice, having walked over to try and comfort his mother in any way he could.

"Go if you want Draden, just know I'm not going with you." She responded without looking up.

"But mother, why-" Draden tried tried to ask, shocked at her words.

"Because Draden, I'm weak and sick, I can't even leave the forest without having a bad coughing fit or having trouble breathing, Dust knows what _Vale_ would do to me. Besides... I would prefer to stay here and make a grave for Roman myself, even if his body isn't here, this is his home."

Draden looked down. "Mother, I... I...think I want to go to the funeral, I don't want to leave you alone but..."

"I understand Draden, you go, I can care for myself for a while. You deserve to get out of this house for a little while, even if it's for something so somber. You go, if that's what you want. Don't let the circumstances ruin the experience though, enjoy the world, see the sights, for both of us."

"Thank you, Mother." The teen thanked his Mother, wiping his tears away before hugging his Mother from behind. After a few moments, he let go and lingered for a second before walking back upstairs to get properly dressed and preparing for his journey to the kingdom of Vale.

Draden dressed himself in a purple undershirt, a black vest, and a personal spare of his father's old white coat. Along with that, continuing the streak, a pair of buttoned dark jeans, a pair of black gloves, and a purple toque; his usual attire.

Afterwards, he took an old knapsack and filled it with what he thought he would need for his trip to Vale. His wallet, a few spare pairs of clothes, some medical supplies he might just need, and his scroll. Rummaging through the pack to assure himself he had all the essentials, he put the pack and let out a wistful sigh as his gaze slowly moved to the far wall in his room.

Walking over to the display case mounted to his wall, Draden removed a sheathed katana; a barely visible, scratched out white fang emblem on the sheath.

"It's been a while since I've need to use you." He thought to himself, attaching the sword to the left side of his belt. He proceeded to pick up his bag and walked downstairs, his mind a maelstrom of thoughts.

Draden walked to the front door of the house, surprised to see his Mother waiting by the front door with a brown paper bag in her hands. With a small smile, he graciously accepted the packed lunch and slowly opened the door; the cold autumn air instantly entering the house and sending a chill up his spine.

"Bye mum, I'll be back soon. I promise." Draden said somewhat quietly, unable to meet her gaze.

"You better be, Draden Torchwick." Mariana playfully scolded him, her forced smile waning a bit.

"I will, I promise... I love you." He replied, finally meeting her gaze as he gave her a weak smile.

"I love you too, Draden, be safe." She whispered, her smile seeming a bit more sincere, even as she worked to hold back her tears.

Draden walked outside, into the cold of the fall. A solemn look encompassed his face as golden, red and brown leaves began falling and billowing all around him. He started to walk down the long road from Vacuo's Flora forest to the nearby town to inquire about getting a ride to Vale, unaware of the deja vu his Mother was experiencing at the sight of his silhouette fading into the horizon.

* * *

Elsewhere in Remnant,a different kind of morning starts. Not one of sorrow or loss, but a morning full of yelling and headaches for one unfortunate woman trying to reign in control of the remains of Roman Torchwick's crime syndicate.

"For the last _**fucking**_ time, _**Until**_ Roman's son or heir or _**whatever**_ shows up; _**I. Am. In. Charge.**_ So unless you want to _**die**_ a slow, painful death at the end of my parasol, _**SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LEAVE!"**_

"For fuck's sake woman, calm your ass down, I'm just tryin' to-"

"Trying to _**what**_ , Junior? Trying to help? trying to be friendly? Last time I checked, that wasn't your thing. No, to me, it seems like you're trying to pull the rug out from underneath my feet and take control of the rest of Roman's crew."

"Neo, Listen, I-"

"No Junior, _**YOU**_ listen, I am trying to keep this _shitshow_ under control until that kid of Roman's shows up for the funeral. So _until_ he shows up and takes over, you just need to stop. Then, and only _**then**_ , you can try to take control or whatever the hell you want, but until then you need to fuck off Junior. It's already taking everything I have to keep all this under control, the last thing I need is a power struggle. This talk is over, see yourself out." Neo exhaustedly sighed.

"But-" Junior tried to say.

"But nothing Junior, you know I'm stronger than you, so leave before I make you."

"Ugh, fine." Junior scoffed,"you little bitch." And with that, Junior left the meeting room. "Dust almighty! He is one stubborn fuckin' pig." Neo muttered to herself, propping a leg up on her former boss' desk.

"A few more days Neo, a few more days and this hell will be over, you can do it girl, you, can, do it... Ugh." Neo sank into her chair, slumping over in exhaustion just thinking of the next few days. "I never knew how hard trying to run a crime syndicate actually was. Heh, damn Roman musta' had a lot of patience to deal with this bullshit. Now, how many more papers are there left to do?" Neo starts to furiously scribble on an important looking document, wondering what Roman's heir was like and if he would be as interesting a leader as Roman.

* * *

 **Valyrym: Well Guys, how was the intro to my fanfic, good bad, please tell me I would love to know your opinion. on another note, once I become more confident in my abilities as a writer, I think I might start taking fanfic requests, so if you have any idea's please tell me (Note: Whilst i can do smut, I'd rather note do Yaoi, Rape, Or bestiality for reasons most of you can probably guess, Yuri ain't outa the question though)**

 **Prick: Hello readers! Yup, it's that thorn in your side, AnonymousPrick3! I'm the beta for this story, and as such you'll be seeing me around the beta notes. I'm in love with the idea of a Torch-wick Centric fic, but with the scarcity of them, I decided an OC fic about his son would be as close to that sweet, sweet high as I would get, for now. I plan on doing my own after I finish my own Jaune-centric, Lancaster, Lunar Rose fanfic. If you're waiting on an update for this story, maybe give mine a looksie while Valyrym works his magic. It's standing at a proud 60K, and is currently being revamped! The summary is a bit misleading, but I plan on fixing that soon!**

 **Valyrym: I got a new friend YAY *Runs around enthusiastically with dumb look on face* but seriously, this guy is great and helping out by beta-ing and editing help and stuff, overall great guy 10/10 would rate again. Also his work is amazing, so go check it out.**


	2. Chapter 2: The Long(ish) Haul

**Valyrym: Welp, here we are again, it's time for chapter two, speaking of two, thanks for the two reviews, thats already more than I expected to get, i hope you like this chapter, I put quite a bit of work into it. Please review my work, all constructive criticism is appreciated. Other than that, read and enjoy!**

 **Prick: Why? Why…why do you only occasionally capitalize single I's? And we do genuinely hope you enjoy the chapter, and I'll personally thank anyone who points out any errors in a review.**

 **Valyrym: I only capitalize some I's BeCaUse i Can DO WhaTeVER I flippIty FooKin Feel LiKE M8y ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)**

* * *

Draden had finally arrived at the small town, and promptly followed the smell of the ocean. He arrived to see the docks filled with ships; now he just needed to find the one that would take him to Vale. After pondering on his dilemma for a moment, he let out a defeated sigh and realized he didn't have a single clue as to how to go about doing that.

"Might as well start asking everybody I see, I'm sure someone will help me." Draden muttered to himself in a sarcastically enthused voice.

After a few hours of mostly being ignored by sailors and merchants, or outright lazily lied to, Draden was growing irritated, but wouldn't show it, as his Mother had made sure to teach him respect and kindness.

"Umm, excuse me ma'am, I don't suppose you would be able to help me, would you?"

"Hmm? Ma'am? I'm a bit too young for someone to be calling me that, _kid_. That complaint aside, how can I help you?" The dark-haired, pale woman responded. In truth, she was rather pretty and young looking, though all that didn't stop the annoyed twitch on Draden's face at the rude inflection of kid.

 _"Just trying being respectful,_ **ma'am.** "He thought to himself, the small amount of venom the unspoken word was laced in surprised himself, causing him to lag in responding for a moment.

"Oh! I was wondering if you knew of any boats leaving for Vale today, preferably in the next few hours. I have business in the kingdom and need to leave as soon as possible." He explained, hope beginning to surge in him at finally having had someone hear him out.

"Vale, eh? You're in luck kid, real lucky. My husband just so happens to be the captain of our own little commercial boat that travels from here to Vale; he also just so happens to be leaving for Vale today. The boat's called the Odyssey, the name's on the side of the boat and in silver; you won't miss it. If you hurry to the piers, you might be able to catch him. Just be careful, he charges an arm and a leg for the rides." The captain's wife explained.

"Oh, really? Thank you ma'am! And thanks for the warning about his prices!"

"If you want to thank me stop calling me ma'am, my name is Valerie. Anyways, you mind me asking what your business in the Kingdom is, Mr. Business?" The woman asked, leaning forward on her stall to give Draden an inquisitive smile, only to have that smile fade a bit at the intense look the boy was giving her.

He found the question was none of her business, and almost ended up sneering at the woman before realizing what he was doing.

" _Why the hell do you need to know_." Draden thought to himself.

"If you **really** must know, the answer I'm going attending a funeral."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. It wasn't my place to pry, I'm sorry for asking." She responded, looking genuinely abashed, and she forgave Draden, though she didn't verbalize that sentiment.

"Well, Thanks none the less Valerie." Draden yelled over his shoulder as he began to walk along the pier.

" _You won't be thanking me when you hear how much he'll charge_." Valerie chuckled under her breath, before resuming her work.

* * *

The young fox faunus had quickly picked up his pace after a few minutes had gone by with no signs of the Odyssey. He cursed Valerie halfheartedly, growing irritated at the lack of information she'd given him. He should've asked her to be more specific, considering he wasn't even certain if he need to jog to catch the ship, or sprint for that matter. Draden had walked by half of the pier before he started to jog, then run down the pier, a trace amount of worry had gotten into his system after seeing the docked ships becoming rarer and rarer.

Another couple of minutes and now Draden's heart was beginning to pump from the slight exertion, as he had started to run. He was far past the point of return, for he wouldn't have enough time to make it to the Odyssey if it were anywhere near the side of the dock he had started at. His heart squeezed painfully as he saw the end of the pier, with only one ship left. It was a giant freighter, clearly not the small commercial ship he was looking for.

With a sigh, Draden admitted defeat bitterly, upset his voyage was already off schedule. His gaze dropped down the ground, spotting a blur of brown on their way there. He lifted his head to see a blurry, brown, humanoid shape walking towards the freighter. Other than the color of the outfit, the only thing Draden could discern were a pair of rabbit ears on their head. He watched on as the person walked by the freighter, before turning to the ocean and jumping into it. At least, that's what it looked like for Draden, since the freighter was obstructing his vision.

The realization punched him in the gut. Nearly stumbling, Draden began sprinting forwards, running at what he felt was the fastest he had ran in months. He was out of almost breath when he finally arrived at the modest sized ship that was dwarfed by the freighter.

He was still panting heavily when a grizzled old man stepped up to him from the boat, arms crossed. Draden idly noted he was a bear faunus, and made a note to not mention it.

"Excuse me sir, you wouldn't happen to be taking this boat to Vale would you?"

"Yeah, and by the rush you're in, I'm guessing you need a ride to Vale too?

"Too? I take it that means you do transport people?"

"You'd be right. You'd also be right in guessing that today is a busy day, a lot more people than usual."

"Well, is there room for one more?"

"Yeah, but the price for the trip is 1000 Lien, on account of the discomfort you'd be causing the rest of the occupants." The old faunus said, greed dripping from his voice as he gave Draden a coy smile.

"A **_1000_** lien?! That's highway robbery!" Draden exclaimed loudly, noticing the stares he was garnering from a few of the passengers.

"You best lower your voice, _boy._ Traversing those seas is a dangerous endeavor, and men of trade like myself deserve just compensation for willing to risk our lives for the people's sake."

"You're _right_ , aquatic Grimm are a very serious threat. Why don't we go and remind everyone of your grandeur?" Draden remarked in a whisper, the captain glaring at him.

"You know what that would do. Would you really endanger everyone on board for something as petty as money?" The older man hissed.

"Five hundred lien says I wouldn't dream of it."

"Fine then, you little brat, get on but be warned, if you start causing trouble I'm sending you overboard personally."

"Very well then, Sir" Draden said with a smirk as he walked pass the captain and onto the boat.

Draden smiled to himself as he found a small, shady spot on the port side of the ship. He dug through his bag and took out a copy of Ninja's of Love II: Destiny, glancing side to side at the people passing by him before shrugging them off. "Time for some quality time with my novel. Just me, the sea, and the seemingly endless pages of this... _Captivating_ book." He chuckled to himself.

He began to read, losing himself in the erotic fantasies of the book, never noticing when the boat began its departure. He found the headwind was making it impossible to read; the pages kept flying back and forth. Draden promptly closed the book and gave up on trying to read. "Well I might as well use the time to contemplate my navel... Ugh, this is going to be one long, boring ride." Draden admitted in defeat, boredom already evident in his face. What the fox faunus didn't know, however, was that the slow drifting, smooth ride would end soon, and be replaced by something diabolical.

* * *

"I want to die. Someone, anyone, please, kill me."

"Sorry mate, we got a no violence policy on the boat. If you were up for another show tune though..." A crew member who happened to be nearby offered.

"God damn it! Why did I have to travel by boat? Why couldn't I have gotten a plane ride like a normal person?" Draden whined as he leaned against railing, prepared to lean over the side of the ship should the time come; he'd do it right this time, damn it!

"How many show tunes do you hear people whistling on planes laddy?"

"None! I get the whole avoid negativity thing but enough of the god damned show tunes!...I'd sing a hundred if that's what it took to get a plane ride though."

"Well, you're here now, and we don't refund, so, have fun. Oh, and if you're going to hurl, do it off the edge of the boat, we don't need another mess to clean up." The crew member then promptly left Draden alone with his sickness.

"Go eat a dic- urgh." Draden puked once more, this time over the side of the boat. "Ugh, this fuckin' sucks."

"Don't deal too well with boats, I assume?" A feminine voice asked him with a bit of disappointment in her tone.

"Hmm, oh, uhh, no apparently I don't deal with boats all too well." Draden explained, turning to see none other than brown blur herself!

"You're a woman then, huh? And a curvy one at that." The young teen muttered beneath his breath.

"I don't deal with them all too well either, but I got some medicine for it. Here, you could have some, if you'd like?" The curvy rabbit Faunus offered, pulling out a small jar and pulling out a single pill.

Draden stared at her outstretched hand, the pill sitting in her palm.

"It should ease your stomach before long." Velvet offered, misunderstanding his hesitation.

"Th-thanks a lot." Draden mumbled aloud as took the pill from her hand, swallowing it dry with a grimace, never noticing the tinge of pink that ran across her face.

"It should start to take effect in fifteen to twenty minutes." She informed him meekly.

"Thanks... uhh, I didn't catch your name."

"My name is Velvet, Velvet Scarlatina, nice to meet you." Velvet said, a smile on her face.

"The name's Draden, nice to meet you too." He replied, smiling back at her. The conversation took a turn for the awkward when neither of them said anything for a few moments. He looked at her, searching for anything to say; before eyeing her perky ears. "You're a rabbit faunus, I didn't notice before." He remarked. Admittedly, it was the poorest icebreaker he had ever heard too.

"Sooooo, what? Is that a bad thing." Velvet replied, her voice getting somewhat defensive.

"Oh, no, no! I didn't mean that as a insult or something." Draden said, worried he had offended her.

"I'm a faunus too. I just meant that I actually didn't notice your where a faunus and uhh-"Draden explained hastily, removing his hat to reveal his fox ears. His rambling was mercifully cut off though.

"Don't worry about it. I can get a bit...defensive at times. Most people would never think so, but… Anyways, I'm sorry for that. It's just, I'm going through some stuff back at...You know what, you don't want to hear this. I'm sorry." Velvet said, making it clear she didn't want to continue the line of thought.

"No, don't worry about it, it's sad but I know that there are a lot of people who are still racist towards faunus, I mean it's absolute bullshit that it's still going on, even in this day and age, but there are those people, and it's not like equality is achieved in a day, even if great strides are being taken towards the goal."

"I know right? It's just infuriating! You would think that after all these years that something like that would have changed for good. That someone would have done something to stop it permanently. We got the White Fang, but it's not like they're helping at all. If anything, they're hurting the situation." Velvet admitted.

"Who knows, maybe whoever runs the thing will realize they're just setting us up for war or if we are lucky, they could get a new leader and go back to peaceful protests. Anyways... let's try and change the topic. I, personally, don't really don't enjoy thinking about how our people are discriminated against." Draden finished with a bit of a sneer on his face.

"Yeah, it's probably for the best, most people assume faunus talking about being discriminated against are part of the white fang nowadays." Velvet sighed, rubbing her arms as she looked around.

"Yeah, I noticed. So, what's bringing you to Vale, Velvet?" He tried to segue.

"Oh, I'm going back to Vale to start my third year at Beacon. I was just spending some time visiting a sick family member in Vacuo over the break." She explained, seemingly happy to bring up less dreary news.

"Oh, so you're a huntress then are you? Where's your weapon,? I don't see any over-sized swords or gun-axes or anything around. Honestly, you don't really look the part either, if you don't mind me saying."

"Hey! Just because I don't look like a hardened veteran huntress doesn't mean I'm not! I could kick Grimm butt up and down the road all week if I wanted to, and that's unarmed! As for my weapon... I accidentally left it behind when I was packing to leave." She admitted timidly, unable to meet his gaze in embarrassment. He found that oh so endearing.

"Oh, that sucks. I was actually wondering what type of weapon someone of your figure...uses." Draden finished weakly, realizing he hadn't done a very subtle job of giving Velvet a once-over, if the pout and crossed arms were anything to go off of.

"Anyway, what's being a huntress like? Is it fun at all, or is it just plain hard work?" He tried to segue once again, hoping she would have mercy on him.

"It's a bit of both, being at Beacon, and being a huntress. You learn about fighting Grimm, dust, history and strategy every day. Many times a year there are shadow missions where you follow veteran Hunters and Huntresses around on missions and help them out. It's hard work, but it's worth it. Personally, I think it's fun. I get to meet new people all the time, see new fighting styles, and of course, take pictures of exotic places and weird people. All in all, I think it's one of the funnest and rewarding jobs in remnant. Oh, uhh, sorry for rambling ."

"No, no, I enjoy hearing about Hunters and Huntresses. I always wanted to go to school and become a Hunter, but circumstances such as money and my mother's health always got in the way, so I never got the experience."

"Well, if you want, I could talk to our headmaster and you could get a tour or watch classes and whatnot for a day if you have the time. I'm sure Professor Ozpin would let you if you wanted to."

"Well, I'll be staying in Vale for a few days after I finish what I came to do, so, sure, I would love to."

"Do you have a scroll? I'll message you when it's time and can give you a tour of the school and introduce you to some of the coolest people in Vale." Velvet smiled once more, and Draden made a note to see her do that more often.

"It sounds like fun, I'd love to. But it's starting to get late, I should go get some rest for now, see you around Velvet."

"Yeah, I should probably get some rest too, I'll see you around Draden." Velvet and Draden swapped scroll contacts, and he watched as she headed down into the ship.

" _sure was nice, offering me seasickness pills to help with my stomach, offering to give me a tour of Beacon. Not to mention the pretty sight she gave me. I wonder what my life would be like if I was a hunter."_ He thought to himself imagining himself as a hunter, fighting Grimm, protecting the people of the kingdoms.

"If only, if only. But alas, tis not but a fantasy, a figment of my dreams, a figment that shows an impossible fate, that which will nevercome to fruition." Draden thought aloud, a whimsical tone for added effect. If the ocean found his actions funny, it didn't comment on it. "I suppose it's just about time to get some rest." Draden muttered to himself, finding the cool breeze of the ocean and the sway of the boat was actually rather comforting. Too tired to be bothered, he slowly slipped into the dark abyss of sleep on the spot, even as old faces and fighting pervaded his mind as he drifted into his world of dreams.

* * *

"Cinder?"

"What do you want, Mercury?"

"I wanted to ask what we are going to do about Roman's death, we need the manpower for the plan, so withou-" The assassin was saying before he was cut off.

"You needn't worry about that. Roman had someone lined up to take his place, his heir is scheduled to take over in a short while. Once he gets here we can set up a... meeting of sorts and... negotiate a way for him help out with our plan."

"Yeah, that sounds good. We can just train the new guy to do what we want, like Roman. While we are on the subject, it seems like Roman expected to die early, maybe he knew he was going to die or something." Mercury mused aloud, missing the inquisitive look Cinder was shooting him. It seemed like the young man genuinely felt it was appropriate to take up her time like this; she'd have to show him otherwise soon.

"Roman was a man that prioritized his survival above all else, you're a fool for believing that if Roman knew he was going to die he'd lie down and accept it. You are right about the heir though, a little obedience training and he will serve the same purpose as Roman. As long as he can learn to sit, stay, and speak for his master, he shouldn't cause any problems. Shouldn't you be getting ready for the preparations? Leave, now. And take Emerald with you on your way out."

"Yes ma'am." Mercury replied before leaving to find his partner in crime.

"Now, let's hope this new pawn can learn to be a yes man quickly." Cinder said to herself. "Or there might just be a need to find a third leader for Roman's little circus crew."

* * *

 **Valyrym: Well, how was that for a chapter two, Good? Bad? please let me know, a fanfiction is nothing without it's fans, and I aim to please. aside from that I want to say that, Yes, I will be updating this fanfiction at bare minimum one every 2-3 weeks unless something comes up, however that doesn't mean I'm slowing down, chance are i'll have chapter three done in a week or so. My schedule will probably be one chapter per week, so get hype, it's kinda like a anime, you tune in every week or two... or three, get some story, then die of boredom for a a few weeks while you wait for the next chapter, or something like that, anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed :) peace.**

 **Prick: Yay! Draden's personality is showing! He's a bit of a prick, eh? So, did anyone find Velvet's more recent voice utterly divine? No? Just me? Fine. Man, this was a lot more work than I honestly expected. So, when can I expect that check to come in Valyrym? I hope you guys are enjoying the new chapters. I know it's a lot to ask, but if you guys could review your thoughts on the new chapters, that'd really be neat of you.**

 **Pricks for the win! Prick#2016_notTrump**


	3. Chapter 3: An Interesting Event

**Valyrym: So yeah, this is a thing, I know I said I would have the new chapter done in a week but life happened and other shit and I forgot about this story temporarily, anyway it won't happen again, I promise, and again as always, all forms of constructive criticism are greatly appreciated. I was going to have thoughts be show by the use of Italics, but that requires me to go back and change past chapters, i'll do it eventually, but not yet.**

 **Prick: Stop being lazy.**

 **Valyrym: NEVAR!**

* * *

"Master, you have taught me much in these few short weeks. What I have learned under your wing is what I needed to gain the strength I desired. You allowed me the power to prove my worth in the world, and with that the ability to fight to protect myself and other Faunus from the humans. For that, I thank you." Draden said, bowing respectfully at the man dressed in black and red.

"You're thanking me? For what? You said you wanted to learn how to fight, you're a faunus, you should know how to use your claws. If you don't know how to fight you're just a another useless bystander, inviting the humans to step on us. If you can't fight, you can't prove to those human bastards that we are a threat, that we are going to rise up and crush them. If you can't fight, you can't stop the oppression we face. Faunus who standby idle, hoping things will change without taking being forced to fight for our rights, are inviting those fucking humans to walk all over us! A faunus that doesn't fight for our freedom, doesn't deserve to be a faunus in the first place." The older man said in a venomous tone, anger dripping from his voice.

"But, you are not one of those bystanders, you chose to pick up a weapon and fight, like a true faunus!" Draden's master exclaimed as he drew a blood red blade from the sheath at his side. "Draden Torchwick, this is your final test, your first true fight as a faunus. Do not hold back, fight with everything you have. Show me your fangs! Show me your claws! Show me how powerful you truly are!"

The man charged at Draden, almost as fast as the eye can see, attacking with two quick, decisive sword strokes, attempting to end the fight quickly. Almost as fast as the man cloaked in black, Draden unsheathed his sword and raised it to a defensive position, however just before the two incoming strikes connected, he watched as his mentor raised his weapon, firing off two bullets. He felt his stomach rip open, and Draden dropped to his knees. Except, when he did so, he blinked his eyes to to see he was laying down in a bed.

"Wha?" Draden groaned as he slowly sat up in his bed. "What in the hell was that?"

Gunfire reaches his ears once more.

"Gunshots? What in the-" Draden quickly got dressed and grabbed his sword before hearing the pained, gruff yells of a man, which sounded very familiar. "Was that the captain?" The fox faunus asked himself as he ran out the door and hurried towards where the yelling came from, rushing towards the main deck only to stop at the sight of the captain down the hallway, dead on the ground, the smell of blood permeating the air.

"What th-..." Draden started to say, before quickly and quietly rushing to the corner near the now deceased captain, peeking around the bend. He noticed six men standing on the deck, five dressed in white. Three with guns, two with short-swords, and one man cloaked in black and red, standing over the captain's body, a red katana in hand.

"Master!?" Draden mumbled in disbelief under his breath. "Why is my master here of all places, I knew he was part of the fang but- did he kill the captain? What in the hell is going on?!" He asked to no one in particular, just staring at the stoic look on his Master's face as he issued orders.

"Clear the rest of the ship, kill those who resist, just be quick about it. I'll be leaving now, do not fall behind." Adam Taurus relayed in the same cold voice that Draden was all too familiar with.

Draden's eyes widened at his master's words, and could only listen on in shock as he heard footsteps getting softer and softer until the deafening sound of a motor snapped him out of his trance. Casting the dead captain a mere glance, the young man began to slowly walk away, intent on avoiding a fight with so many men outnumbering him. Yes, he'd hide in a room, strategically taking out soldiers one by one, a whisper of death amongst the ship until only one was left, who he would then extract of infor-

"You there! Put your hand hands on your head, **now!** "

"God fucking damn it." Draden cursed aloud, irritated at life and how it constantly got in the way of his plans.

"Yeah, that's right, you just stand right there, real calm like! Don't try and play the hero, that last girl tried it and got the butt of my friend's rifle for it. Unfortunately for you, she taught us not to bother with that anymore, and shooting people is just so much more convenient." The White Fang soldier said loudly, garnering the attention of his fellow soldiers, who sauntered onto the scene with grins on their faces. Draden slowly turned around to notice with disdain that the man who had gotten the drop on him was armed with a shoddy looking sword.

"He didn't even have a gun… Whatever. I'll just wipe the floor with this punk, rush to take down everybody with a gun, and I'll save the last guy so I can get some info outta him." The faunus muttered to himself.

"Don't worry, it'll all be over soon." The original sword-wielding shithead taunted before he rushed forward, attempting an over-head strike so sloppy that made Draden question whether or not this was the guy's first day.

"This guy can't be serious, can he?" Draden said aloud, blocking the 'attack' with the sheath of his sword, which he had lazily slung over his back, before he spun on his heel and delivered a brutal horizontal slash. Simple, effortless, and damned efficient; these were the words that bounced through his head as he watched the grunt's blood spill onto the deck.

"Argggh..." The man managed to get out before he fell to the floor dead, his pool of blood joining that of the deceased captain.

 _"_ These guys don't even know how to use their auras to defend themselves, they can't be Fang. I'm practically slaughtering unarmed men...meh, whatever, it saves me time in the long run. _"_ Draden thought to himself as he flicked the blood off of his blade.

"Hey, shitheads! Since I don't particularly feel like maiming and or killing all of you, I have a deal. Tell me what your objective was and where Taurus went and I'll let you live."

One of the men armed with guns yelled out, "Screw that, we'll just kill you and-" the man was cut off as Draden dashed far fast than the man could keep up with before delivering a powerful horizontal slash, cutting the man short, his body slumping to the floor and his blood rapidly join that of the other carcasses.

"Let me rephrase that, drop your weapons and tell me what I want to know or die." Draden flicked the blood from his sword the same way Taurus did just minutes earlier with his a smirk on his face."

The men looked briefly at one another before placing their weapons on the ground.

"Ok ok, we'll tell you what you want."

"Good, now first off is a simple question even you could answer. What was your objective, why attack a passenger carrying boat?"

"The captain of the boat used to be a white fang operative, after he abandoned his post, orders were put out to find and eliminate him."

"Ok, how about master Taurus? Why did he come and where is he going?"

"We don't know why he came here personally nor do we know were he's heading. It could be any number of bases, if he's even sticking around this continent."

"Of course you don't know, that would just be too easy wouldn't it?" Draden sighed.

Draden snarled as he swiftly slaughtered two of the White Fang grunts with two smooth, fluid strikes, splattering blood all over the deck, the bodies continuing to pile up.

" **WHAT THE FUCK!** " The last man yelled as he tried to crawl away. "You said you'd let us live!"

"I did let you live, for like 5 more minutes that you would have if you resisted, besides, if you guys were to survive today, you'd crawl back to the Fang and just do this again and again, everyone would be better off if you didn't survive."

"No, not everyone would be better off!"

"Hmm?"

"The faunus would suffer, the Fang fights for faunus equality, without us-"

"Without you, we might have a chance to settle the differences between our races peacefully and actually have a shot at coexistence." Draden retorted.

"That's fucking bullshit and you know it, those filthy humans will never accept us."

"Maybe, but we won't know till we try, and besides, anything is still better than committing a genocide to be recognized, we are aren't all savages you know."

"We aren't savages. Says the guy who just killed four of his own kind!" The White Fang grunt snarled.

"Killed four of my own kind? I'm sorry I don't identify with shitheads like you" Draden asked, the words sounding hollow and practiced.

" **Eat shit you fucking traitor!** "

"That's all you have to say? Very well then, have fun in the afterlife." He quickly pierced the man's skull. "That was... A thing... To say the least." Draden tore a piece of cloth of off one of the dead Fang members' coats and used it to clean the small bit of blood off of his sword. "Didn't they say something about killing people who resist? maybe they kept some of the people who didn't resist alive, they also mentioned a girl? I wonder if that's Velvet. I should probably go look for her then... but where would a good place to trap a captive be? Ah shit, guess I'll just look everywhere, I'll probably find someone eventually."

* * *

Draden walked all over the ship, not too surprised to learn that almost no one else, bar a elderly couple had survived, until he finally arrived at an engine room."Assuming I had to keep someone prisoner, I guess this place would be as good as any." The faunus drawled aloud, giving the lock on the door a single look, instinct advising he pick it, and common sense reminding him there was no reason to. So, he bashed it with his sheathe, knocking the flimsy metal off the door, walking in, looking at all the people in the room and loudly asking, "Why the hell didn't anyone tell me there was a party? I would've brought booze!"

Velvet was the first to react to Draden barging in and announcing their freedom.

"Draden!" Velvet yelled as she rushed over to him, hugging him, much to his surprise.

"What happened? Are you ok? Where did the White Fang go?"

"Slow down there Velvet, I'll tell you the details later. Right now we should focus on making sure the other people who survived are alright."

"...Ok." She whispered after a small pause, only then noticing the small but noticeable amount of blood covering her fellow faunus' shirt.

"You're hurt." She pointed out, nodding towards the blood spatter.

"It's not my blood... don't worry about that for now, kay?"

"But Drade-"

Draden cut her off, "Velvet, please."

"Hmph... fine, have it your way, Mister I don't let people worry about me."

"Don't take it the wrong way, I appreciate the concern, I really do. But right now we should be focused on helping others rather than ourselves." Draden smiled before walking over to the crew members and starting a conversation with them.

"Not your blood..." Velvet contemplated before deciding that her mysterious friend had made a great point, and quickly began to check amongst the rest of her ex-captives.

"White fang huh, you can't seem to go anywhere these days without them showing up…" An elderly woman mentioned to the rabbit faunus.

"Apparently not. Anyways, if you and your husband are alright, I'll be leaving to check in with the rest of the passengers."

"Thanks for your kindness and concern young lady."

"I'm just making sure no one was injured, there's no need to thank me." Velvet replied.

"Goodbye now."

"Bye." Velvet left the old couple and started walking towards the deck of the boat when the smell of blood reached her nose. "What the..is this...did Draden...?" Velvet rushed out onto the deck. Her eyes widened as they fell onto the multiple corpses scattered on the deck, bathed in blood. After a few seconds of shock Velvet put her hand over her mouth. "Draden... Dust almighty." Velvet stood there, still as a leaf, until someone put their hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, Velvet... I'm sorry you had to see this... I didn't want to kill them, but I didn't have any choice... " Draden lied, looking down at his feet. She was a Huntress-in-training after all.

"No... I understand, it was the White Fang. It was either you or them, and I don't blame you for your choice, I just wish that there could have been another way."

"I do too, nothing pains me more than having to take the life of a fellow faunus, or any at all really." Draden depressedly sighed, internally deciding that he should end the conversation soon, less his lies catch up with him.

"Why can't the Fang just go back to the way they were before?! A peaceful organization dedicated to equal rights, instead of 'Equality' through force." Velvet questioned, audibly upset.

"I don't know Velvet, I don't know... Anyways, I'm going to go get all passengers who survived together so we can explain what exactly happened, and then hopefully the crew members can get us back on course to Vale. Once we get there, you can contact the police force and inform them of what happened."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good plan...I'm going to go take a short rest if that's ok with you."

"Of course, rest to your hearts content, You've had a long day." Draden replied, giving her what he knew would be a reassuring smile.

"See you later then." Velvet timidly said, rubbing her arm before she quickly moved forward and lightly hugged him.

"Damn, I hate lying to such a pretty little thing…" He drawled as he stared at Velvet's retreating form. "But it can't be helped. All I can do is hope it doesn't come back to bite me in the ass later...or at least not bite me too hard." Draden said aloud to himself, lost in his thoughts for a few moments, before he remembered he had an objective to complete.

After a short meeting comprised of the passengers and crew, and everyone piecing together what had occurred, the ship's crew finally set sail for Vale once more, having to work around the corpses of their fallen workers, whom Draden had informed them couldn't be tampered with for the police, much to everyone's displeasure.

Draden walked over to the deck, looking down at bodies. "Sucks to be you guys I guess, have fun in hell." Draden looked off into the distance, Vale barely visible on the horizon. "Well, here I am, Vale at last, let's hope the rest of this trip goes better than this boat ride."

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 **Valyrym: I hope that chapter was worth the wait, it took a while to make, Anyway, please review and criticize to your hearts content it's all appreciated and wanted. something i'm going to mention is that at some point i'm going to go back a polish the previous chapters after my writing skills get better, other than that, I hope you enjoyed and I hope you'll read the next chapter when it comes (This time it won't take a month) Chao.**

 **Edit: I now have have a beta reader/helper/nice guy helping me make my stories better, so a big thanks to Anonymous Prick 3 (Yes that's his username) for the help.**

 **Prick: You're god damn right I'm a nice guy. Asshole...anyways, yeah, I finally managed to finish chapter 3, you're welcome guys! So sorry this took me forever to get to, if it makes you feel better, you can spam Valy's pm about it.**


	4. Chapter 4: When In Vale (Part 1)

**Val: I'm so sorry i didn't post this sooner, my beta Prick is MIA doing something, Finals I think, so I was left in the dark, I decided to post this chapter for now and replace it when my beta gets back and edits the chapter, I'm also sorry for not making the chapters more consistently uploaded, I know I said I would but things have been tough lately :p Anyway I hope you enjoy the chapter, read, review and all that jazz :) ~Val (Yes the signature is necessary)**

 **Prick: The fuck are you talking about? I'm always nearby. I am the darkness…**

* * *

The hours following their arrival in Vale where a storm of sirens and questions. Velvet as a Huntress-in-training was asked to go with the cops to the V.P.D. Station to report what happened while she was on the vessel. Draden on the other hand, was taken into custody as a suspect in the crime that took place on the boat and was awaiting custody.

"Why me?! What did I do to deserve being thrown in a cell?!" Draden whined for the billionth time, his voice clearly depressed.

"You were acting suspicious at the scene of a crime, it's only natural that you got arrested." Replied the guard watching Draden.

"Suspicious! **Are you fucking serious!?** Walking off the boat and telling you about what happened on the boat is suspicious? That's complete bullshit and you know it! The only thing ' _suspicious_ ' I did was being a faunus, wasn't it!"

"Whatever kid, just sit tight, shut your ass up and wait till it's time for questioning." The guard walked away.

"Racist asshole!" Draden yelled the at guard while he was walking away.

* * *

It was almost an hour later before the fox faunus was finally taken from his cell and brought to a small room with a single table and two chairs. The man across the table from him was an older gentleman, dressed in a decorated police uniform. "Take a seat kid." The man demanded softly, though his gruff voice demanded attention nonetheless. "Now I'm going to ask you some questions kid. Answer truthfully and we can be done with this quickly. First off, I want to ask why you came to Vale, what's the purpose of your visit."

"I came to Vale to attend my father's funeral. He died a few weeks ago but I only just found out about his passing, the funeral itself will be the day after tomorrow. I want to stay in Vale for a short bit to experience what the kingdom has to offer while I'm here, so I'll be staying for about twelve days starting today"

"I'm sorry to hear that kid. Next, I want you to tell me what happened on the boat."

"Well, it was probably... I want to say around five in the morning when I was awoken by the sound of gunshots coming from the deck of the boat, I quickly got dressed and grabbed my sword before rushing to the deck. When I arrived at the deck the captain of the boat was already dead and there were six White Fang members, five grunts and one who appeared to be a Commander." Draden reminisced, deciding their was no harm in telling the truth for once. "The commander then left and shortly after I was noticed, the Commander told the grunts to capture or kill if necessary before he left so one of the grunts attempted to capture me, since I was armed and confident in my fighting skills, I fought back. Unfortunately, they didn't seem to know how to use aura, so my attacks killed all five of them. The loss of life is unfortunate but it was inevitable in that situation." Draden explained, trying not to lose his cool.

"Hmm, that matches the report made by the Huntress-in-training that was on the boat at the time. One last question, You wouldn't happen to be a hunter from another kingdom would you? That could make things much smoother around here."

"No sir, if I was a Hunter I woulda' made that _pretty_ fuckin' clear a while ago. Apparently, they aren't subject to racism... I'm just a resident of Vacuo."

"If you're just a normal resident, where did you learn to fight?"

The question was expected, and for once, it was one that Draden would happily answer. Retelling the experience always made him so passionate. "A great swordsman passed through my town many years ago, after watching his masterful swordplay just once I was determined to make him teach me. At first he denied me and said that the training would kill a kid like me, but I eventually managed to convince him. The training was absolutely brutal, it probably would have killed me if I had been any weaker, but it didn't. In the end, it was well worth the time I spent training."

"To be honest, that sounds like some shit from an anime or somethin'. Well, whatever. I got the answers I was looking for, sorry for all the trouble kid."

"Wait, really? I thought that I was going to get imprisoned or something by the sounds of how those dipshit guards were talking."

"No, it's just that guys here are pretty racist, to be honest I can't stand it, but not many people sign up to be police these days, I need all the men I can get. Sorry for the inconvenience."

"Don't worry 'bout it,I guess. I got a bit of time to spend before the funeral. Anyway I suppose I'll be on my way now, gotta find a hotel and all, later." Draden got up to leave.

"Hey kid, I never caught your name." The older officer asked as he unlocked the door.

"The name's Torchwick, Draden Torchwick, make sure not to forget it." Draden stuck his right hand out to shake the officer's hand. "Might I ask your name?" Draden continued.

The officer stepped forward to shake Draden's hand. "My name's Barry Grove, but to you I'm Chief Grove, got it?"

"Got it, adios." Draden left the police station after a few minutes of navigating it's corridors, off to find a suitable hotel to stay at.

* * *

Meanwhile Chief Grove opted to make a call to a certain someone.

"Hello Chief Grove, it's not often I get a call from you."

"That's because I don't need or want to talk to you all that often. This is the rare exception; there's something we need to talk about."

"And that is...?"

"I assume you've already heard about the Fang attacking a passenger carrying ship on it's way to Vale correct?"

"Yes, and...?"

"I just finished questioning the kid who drove off the Fang, he said his last name was Torchwick."

"Torchwick? Well it wasn't Roman, he's been dead for a while. A copy cat maybe? that's all that comes to mind at the moment"

"No it wasn't, the kid looks a lot like him however. He doesn't seem like a criminal. He came here to attend his father's funeral, I'm going to assume it's safe to assume his dad is Roman Torchwick."

"That's quite likely. Since you brought this to me I assume you want me to do something about it, I can't legally arrest him unless he actually breaks the law so what is it that you need me to do?"

"I know, I just want you to send a guy to shadow him for the duration of his stay. He said he'd be in Vale for about two-ish weeks. I'm just worried, we sure as hell don't need a new Torchwick running around."

"Quite so, I'll send one of my best to watch him, keep your eyes peeled for increases in criminal activity."

"My eyes are always peeled. That's all I needed to talk about, I have to get back to work, these papers ain't gonna fill themselves out."

"Thanks for contacting me about this, and have fun with the paperwork Grove."

"You know I will." Chief Grove hung up then sat down and sighed. "Let's hope to dust that this won't be another Torchwick problem." The Chief slowly started to scribble things down onto the stack of papers on his desk.

* * *

Elsewhere in Vale, Draden was wandering around, completely lost and unable to find a decent hotel to stay at that didn't want an arm and a leg.

"How hard is it to find a decent goddamn hotel to stay at around here? Shit, I need to find a decent place, I'm not going to even consider one of these cheap love shacks…I need to find a place that's cheap and not a damn love motel." Draden muttered to himself in disdain. He wasn't serious. While he was a bit stingy with money, at least when it came to spending more than there had to be, the man had standards.

"If you're looking for a hotel, you're on the wrong side of the park, literally. Go back to the park at the center of the city and go east instead of west, there are plenty of hotels out there." A tall man clad in gray slurred out, exiting one fine establishment dubbed "The Crow bar."

"Really? Thanks." Draden replied while scratching the back of his head.

"No problem kid." The man said, before stumbling off northward, Dust knows where to.

"Ask and you shall receive, or something like that I guess" Draden thought to himself while walking towards the east end of town."Something about that man felt _off_ to me... meh I'm probably just to suspicious of people or some shit." Draden muttered to himself.

Draden eventually found a quaint hotel in the east side of town with a cheap rate to stay and settled down for the day. As he was relaxing his body, he mentally prepared himself for the day after in which he would familiarize himself with the kingdom.

* * *

 **Val: Sorry about then length, it's normally longer but I just wanted to set some story is motion so this is all for now, I promise chapter 5 will be up the second chapter 3 & 4 have been updated by my beta.**

 **Edit: Chapter 3 is taking a while so 4 and 5 have been posted.**

 **Prick: Yeah, I'm sorry this one took a while people. Like I said though…if you're stuck waiting…and like Lancaster…Lunar Rose…it's 60K words long. Will be 70K long the next update…which is coming soon.**


	5. Chapter 5: When In Vale (Part 2)

**Val~ GUESS WHO DIDN'T TAKE A MONTH TO WRITE A CHAPTER, ME. YAY, WOOHOO, YEAH, ALRIGHT, but seriously, I got on a streak like no other, so read review and enjoy,**

 **Prick: Status MIA (Once returned to duty will update all existing chapters)**

* * *

After a full day of of fighting and questioning, Draden managed to find a hotel on the east side of Vale, in which he would stay for the night before going out to familiarize himself with the kingdom the next morning.

 **Whiiirrrrr**

"Why... it's morning six am, why is someone vacuuming this goddamn early in the fucking morning." Draden tiredly grumbled in a annoyed tone as he slowly woke up, only to notice the sun up in the sky.

"Wait... what time is it?" Draden asked himself before scanning the room for a clock. "There isn't a wall clock in here, why?" Draden pulled his scroll out of his bag. Upon checking the scroll, it read "6:13AM" on the screen.

"It is six, why is the sun up then?" Draden got dressed, grabbed his things, then proceeded to the main lobby of the hotel, to find the inn-keep vacuuming the floor.

"Hey... uhh miss Azure was it? Why are you vacuuming this early in the morning?"

"Early! I don't know where you come from but nine a.m. ain't all too early in the morning."

"Nine?! Jeez I didn't know it was that late, I'd better set my scroll's clock ahead three hours before I forget." Draden hurriedly got his wallet out and paid the inn-keep 200 Lien.

"That's for last night and tonight. I'll be back eventually." Draden left the building.

"Don't get into too much trouble." The inn-keep yelled after him.

Draden stepped out onto the street and started walking in a random direction, wanting to familiarize himself with the city and see as much as he could before his 10 day trip ended.

* * *

After hours apon hours of aimless exploring the sun had gone down and Draden was on his way back his hotel when a small dust shop caught his eye on his way back.

"From dust till dawn eh..." Draden said to himself.

"I wonder what the quality of Vale's crystals is?" Draden walked into the shop, to idly browse the crystals.

"They're half decent, Hmm" Draden accidentally bumped a girl dressed in red and black as he idly wandered through the store.

"It's kinda rude to bump into someone and not apologize you know." The small girl said.

"Oh, sorry 'bout that." Draden replied without looking at the girl.

"Much better." The girl went back to browsing the magazine she held in her hands.

"Brat..." Draden mumbled under his breath.

* * *

As Draden idly browsed the dust shop, a group of people appeared from a nearby alley, five men, dressed in black and all armed with short, red swords, and one little girl, dressed in white, holding a umbrella.

The group entered the shop, the short girl in the lead. The girl unsheathed the blade hidden in her umbrella and tapped the glass viewing counter with it then made a subtly backwards head-jerk motion, implying for the shop-keep to hand the crystals over, then pointed the tip of her sword to the neck of the shop-keep.

"You can have the crystals, just don't hurt me please..." The shop-keep said timidly as he raised his hands in a surrendering fashion.

The girl jerk her head to left, then to the right, signalling for the henchmen to fan out and collect the dust.

The men fan out across the store going to dust tubes and collecting the dust. One of these men noticed Draden out of the corner of his eye and approached him.

"Hey, you, hands up." The man said, pointing his sword at Draden.

"Hmm? Pardon?" Draden said, not really paying attention the man.

"I said hands up, or else." The man repeated, pointing his sword at Draden.

"Am I meant to take the sword pointed at me as a threat?"

"Yes!" The man said waving his sword at Draden.

"How about no." Draden drew his katana faster than the eye can see and smashed the hilt into the mans solar plexus.

"Urgh..." the man stumbled for a second before Draden took his head in his his and smashed his face into his knee. The man dropped his sword to clutch his nose.

Draden Pushed the man into the wall, picked up the mans sword and drove it into the well next to the man's neck. "It would be in your best interest to not move, lest you have a death wish." Draden said, a frightening tone lacing his voice.

"Uglp" The man audibly gulped, fear evident in his eyes.

"O-ok, Just don't kill me..." the man fell to his knees.

"Haaa... what did I just say." Draden removed a rag from his pocket, forcibly stuffed it in the mans mouth then removed the sword from the wall and drove it through the mans leg, pinning him to the floor.

"HHNNNNGGGG!" The man yelled, albeit almost completely silent due to the gag.

"Be happy I decided not to kill you, you did move, something I **specifically** told you not to do" Draden said in a tone that couldn't be called anything other than murderously sadistic.

Almost as soon as Draden finished speaking, he heard glass shatter elsewhere in the store and went to investigate.

Draden walked out to see several men scatter across the floor, all knocked out, and to see a pink and brown haired midget dressed in white fighting the girl in red from earlier.

"So who is the 'Villan' here?" Draden said to himself as he watched the fight go back and forth between the two, the girl in white with a clear advantage.

"Might be a short match... Looks like lil' red ain't havin' a good time"

The two went back and forth the girl in white blocking all of the red one's attacks and retaliating with a flurry of thrusting attacks.

After a short few seconds the one in white made an attempt to drive her sword through the red girl's throat, but the girl in red managed to dodge.

"Well that was easy, I'll just assume that's our 'Villain'." Draden said as he activated his aura and semblance, standing in a ready stance to strike at a moments notice, his hand resting on his katana's hilt.

"The moment the one in white makes a mistake, I'll disarm her and chase her away, lets just hope Red doesn't get herself killed first." Draden mumbled to himself, watching the fight with a intense stare, waiting for a moment to interrupt the fight.

The fight between the two girls continued to go back and forth, first Red gains ground then white pushes back, the sound of metal clanging together fills the air, a flurry of strikes clash with one another. Eventually white made a seemingly large mistake, tripping over her own feet while backpedaling, Red trying to capitalize on the opportunity by striking white while she was down only to have white's body disintegrate into glass shards. White, who had seemingly vanish reappeared behind Red to strike a fatal blow, raising her arm high and prepared to drive her sword into the back of Red's neck, however in doing so, white left herself open to attack.

"That's it!" Draden drew his sword and rushed toward white at a breakneck speed, parrying her strike with a powerful vertical slash, sending white several feet back, however not disarming her.

"Tch... she has a strong grip to not lose her weapon after a slash like that." Draden sheathed his sword and took a ready position, his eye steadily trained on white, who was recovering from the unexpected attack.

* * *

"This is is, goodnight you little bitch!" Neo thought to herself, smirking as she prepared to drive her sword through the neck of the girl dressed in red and black.

 **Clang**

A loud metallic sound reverberated through the air as Neo was sent back several feet, her shoulder in pain and it felt like someone just tried to rip it off.

'What the in the fuck was that.' Neo brought her head up to look at the assailant, a man with orange hair dressed in a white coat, in a battle ready stance stood where she once was.

"ROMAN?!" Neo exclaimed out loud, surprising ever herself.

"Roman, you're ali..." Neo stopped herself hid sentence, apon closer inspection that man before her was not Roman, but a boy, looked about seventeen or eighteen years of age.

"Roman? Wait... you know my dad?" The boy said, rising slightly from his battle ready stance, a look of confusion and mistrust evident on his face.

"Shit, that's roman's kid... I should get the fuck outa here." Neo sheathed her blade in her umbrella and ran into a nearby alley, using her semblance to teleport to the rooftop of the building she was behind, hoping to escape the boy she just saw.

* * *

"Who the hell was that, and why did she know my dad" Draden thought to himself as he stared at the girl dressed in white, after a few moments the girl ran away, seemingly trying to flee the scene before Draden could catch and question her.

"Oh no you don't." Draden started to run after the girl in white till something grabbed him by the leg, tripping him and forcing him to land face first into the pavement.

"Motherfucker! That hurt, who the hell-" Draden yelled before being cut off.

"Where do you think you're going mister." Said a unfamiliar voice.

Draden turned his head to look at the new arrival, a somewhat tall, blond haired woman with a riding crop, she also seemed to be controlling the thing that grabbed him.

"Who the fuck are you." Draden said out loud before thinking.

"You don't need to know ' _who the fuck'_ I am, all you need to know is that you two are in a whole lot of trouble." The blond woman replied.

"Of course we are... wait, we?" Draden said, a tone of puzzlement in his voice.

"You weren't the only one who recklessly endangered the lives of the bystanders in the area by fighting that woman."

"Ooohhhhh-kay then... haaaaaaa." Draden sighed if only for the fact that this would end up being his _Second_ interrogation sense coming to Vale.

* * *

A few hours later Draden and Red sat side by side at a table in a gray room, the woman, who now identified herself as Glynda, pacing back and forth in front of them.

"I hope that you realize that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly. You put yourselves and others in great danger," Glynda said in a scolding voice.

"They started it!" Draden and Red said at the same time.

"If it were up to me, you'd both be sent home... With a pat on the back... And a slap on the wrist." Glynda whacks the table with her riding crop, making a loud, sudden sound that startled Red.

"But... there is someone here who would like to meet you."

A man in green entered the room with a plate in one hand and a mug in the other.

"Ruby Rose... You... have silver eyes." The man said, slightly leaning inwards towards the girl.

"Uh, um..." The girl now identified as Ruby rose stuttered.

"Uh, old guy, no offence, but that's kinda creepy." Draden stated out of the blue.

"Ah-hem... So! where did you learn to do this?" The man in green gestured to a screen showing Ruby fighting the goons.

"S-Signal Acadamy." Ruby replied in a nervous tone.

"They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?"

"Well, one teacher in particular."

"I see..." The man in green placed the plate on the table, on it was a few dozen cookies, the man made a hand motion inviting for Ruby to eat. Ruby ate one then two, then started eating all of them.

"you wanph a cookie?" Ruby said, her mouth full.

"No- er... fine, please..." Draden said after hearing his stomach grumble. "Why must my stomach betray my pride." Draden took three cookies and ate them, a look of defeat evident on his face.

"I've only seen one other scythe-wielder of that skill before. A dusty, old crow..." The man continued.

"Oh! Thapht's my uncle!..." Ruby finishes eating the cookie she had and wipes her mouth.

"Sorry. That's my Uncle Qrow! He's a teacher at Signal. I was complete _garbage_ before he took me under his wing. And now, I'm all like— Hooowaaah! Witchaaaa!" Ruby said as she made strange poses and made weird arm movements.

"So I've noticed." he sets him mug on the table.

"And what is an adorable girl such as yourself doing at a school designed to train warriors?"

"Well... I want to be a huntress." Ruby timidly replied

"You want to slay monsters?"

"Yeah! I only have two more years of training left at Signal! And then I'm going to apply to Beacon! You see, my sister's starting there this year, and she's trying to become a Huntress, and I'm trying to become a Huntress 'cause I wanna help people. My parents always taught us to help others, so I thought, Hey, I might as well make a career out of it! I mean the police are alright, but Huntsmen and Huntresses are just so much more romantic and exciting and cool and really, **gosh** , you know!"

"Do you know who I am?" the man replied after taking in all of what Ruby had said.

"You're Professor Ozpin, you're the headmaster at beacon."

The man gave a smile. "Hello."

"Nice to meet you."

"You want to come to my school?"

"More than anything."

The man looks at Glynda who gives a dissatisfied "Hmph" then walks away.

"Well, Okay, you can come to Beacon."

"..." Ruby deadpanned.

"Hey kid you OK?" Draden said, trying to find out why she hadn't responded.

"OHH MY GOSH! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, I promise I won't let you down!"

"Ahhhh... My ears..." Draden said, recoiling from the girls loud shrieks of joy. "Well not to break up the happy times, but what about me, if that's all thats going on, I'm sure I don't need to be here."

"Just hold on, I wanted to get that out of the way first, Miss Rose, Glynda will prepare you for your first day at Beacon when you find her, you are dismissed."

"Okay" Ruby said, leaving the room with a huge smile plastered to her face.

"Now as for you, I'm going to ask you the same question I asked Miss Rose, Where did you learn to fight like that, it's clear you're no amateur. The professor said, showing Draden a recording of what he had done hours prior.

"A wandering swordsman passed through my town in Vacuo a few years back, I asked him to train me and for better or for worse he trained me, that's all."

"Can I get the name of your mentor?" The professor asked in a serious manner.

'T'would probably be best to not mention his real name, master was a white fang member.' Draden thought to himself before replying to Ozpin. "He only ever told me his last name... it was Lavender..." Draden said to the professor

"Why did I say Lavender, that's my mum's surname, I hope to dust that doesn't drag her into whatever this is." Draden thought, mentally cursing himself for making such a simple mistake.

"Hmm, I've never heard a swordsman called Lavender before, however that can wait for later. More importantly, can you explain why I can see a white fang emblem on your swords sheath?" The man asked in a calm tone. "You know I can't let white fang members roam the streets of Vale, especially those with your skill level."

"It was a gift from my master, he gave it to me when I passed his tutelage, he was a big fang support, I never got into them myself, too extreme for me, I want equality, but not at the expense of the lives of hundreds of thousands of others."

"Hmm, you didn't seem to have any qualms about pining a man to the floor by driving a sword through his leg... I'll ignore that for now because you saved miss Rose and stopped the robbery, but do not let it happen again. Well then, thanks for your time, your free to go." Ozpin got up and started to leave the room. "Next time there is a robbery or something of the sort, call the police, don't act recklessly, it will only cause trouble for yourself."

"Ok then, sir... whatever" Draden said with a almost undetectable amount of sarcasm in his voice.

"Well then, i'll be off." And with that, the mysterious headmaster of Beacon left the room.

" _That was fun_... Tch! Who does he think he is acting all high and mighty." Draden tiredly sighed. "Well either way, I should get get back to the hotel and prepare for tomorrow."

And with that, Draden went back to his hotel, and fell asleep, waiting for the dawn to break the next day, on the day when his life will change forever, for better or for worse.

* * *

 **Val~ Was that worth it or what? that's the longest chapter I've ever written and i'm so proud, thanks for all the support, please spread the story around, and enjoy to your hearts content :)**


	6. Chapter 6: Wait, What?

**Valyrym: Well well well Boy and Girls, Looks like it's that time of the month again... wait shit that's not what I meant... Anyway, there are a few things I want to address in this authors note so this might be a bit long. First off, Our lovely Beta, Prick has returned from the abyss ready to help out once more, and he has finished beta-ing chapter 3, so chapter 1-3 have been updated to what they should be. Next off is Draden, I had a commission of him drawn my a artist named ShadeofGrimm, that art he drew is now my profile pic, so go check that out. Third on the list is that I have a Facebook page now "** **/Valyrym" Go check it out and support me, It would mean a lot. Anyway, I also wanted to say I'm sorry for making you guys wait so long to get new chapters, I promise i'll try and speed up. Now read, review and enjoy... well do that after reading the rest of the notes, because prick has a few things of his own too say.**

 **Prick:** **What's up ya Cunts! Barbara for the win... Hey everybody, it's that Anonymous Prick! Hope you're enjoying the story so far, I'll be doing my best to catch up with Valy...*leaves for a business week***

 **Valyrym: Barbara for the win?**

* * *

"Well, today's the day... it's finally time for us to meet Roman's kid... though, I think I've already met him before." Neo said as she walked around a empty nightclub, only three other people around to hear her words.

"Already met him? You know who Roman's kid is? When did you meet him?" Asked a deep sounding voice, belonging to the owner of the club, Junior.

"Yeah, he was at the dust shop we were supposed to rob last night, it's the reason I had to flee, I don't know his name though, I only say his face."

"Well, regardless of that, lets hope he's at least half as good a leader as Roman was."

"Half as good a leader as Roman, you're kidding right? You're just gonna try and take control of the syndicate from under the newbie's nose, arn't ay."

"You got me down pat, don't ya?"

"Your an open book Junior, a massive, open, book."

"Whatever, lets go, it's time for the funeral." Junior got up and opened the door.

"Come on Miltia, Melanie, it's time to go get a look our new 'boss'."

Two girls walked up from the dance floor, one in white and one in red. "Ok then Junior~." Miltia said.

"Just make sure he doesn't touch me, Ok." Added Melanie.

"Sure, whatever, lets go." Junior walked out the door before yelling back.

"Hey Neo, you coming or not!?"

"You don't need to yell ya know, anyway, I'm coming, I'm just going lag behind a minute, something I need to do real quick before I go." Neo said before walking to the washroom.

"Ooh, some time by yourself, have fun dear, _hehehe~_ " Miltia said is a half seductive, half sarcastic voice, a smile visible on her face.

"Miltia, is it humanly possible for you to **not** interpret everything I say as a sexual innuendo, or is your mind just so deep in the gutter that all your slutty mind can think of is sex."

" _Maybe~_ "

"I sear to dust I... No, i'm not doing this today, Miltia, just fuck off." Neo said before entering the bathroom

"Wow, that was rude." Miltia said after neo left.

"You kinda earned it Miltia. Not that that's a bad thing."

"Whatever Melanie."

"Come on, it's time to go." Junior said again before walking out the door.

"Let's go Miltia." Melanie said as she followed Junior out the door.

"Fine." Miltia said as she followed Melanie out the door.

* * *

"Tch, the whore, can't even keep her out of the gutter when going to a funeral." Neo took her shirt off and turned her back to the mirror, moving her right shoulder ever so slightly.

"Damn, that still hurts like a motherfucker, there still isn't even a mark, but it's hurt so much you'd think I'd broken my shoulder... Ugh, this sucks... well, I might as well try to catch up to Junior before he gets too far ahead of me, no need to let him kill the newbie before he even assumes power."

And with that, Neo left to catch up to Junior to make sure he doesn't screw up the funeral and to finally meet with her new boss properly.

* * *

"Today's the day... a week ago, I was at home, working away, splitting and stacking wood for the next winter, and now, I'm here, about to go to my own father funeral... Things sure have changed in the last week haven't they..." Draden muttered to himself as he got himself dressed.

"Well, after this I'll still have a few days in Vale after this, provided father didn't actually write a will, if he did, that'll take days to sort out... ugh, maybe I can go see Velvet or something before I leave... maybe..." Draden rubbed the tired look outta of his eyes as he walked out of his hotel and looked up at the sky. "Today is thee day, lets just hope nothing goes horribly wrong... Knowing my luck something probably will... maybe, who knows... I'm talking to myself and look like an idiot, I should get moving."

Just like that, Draden walked towards the funeral house, towards an unknown fate, onward towards the copious amount of fights, emotions and bullshit that await him... mainly the bullshit.

* * *

Draden arrived at the funeral building, exhausted and out of breath, with only a mere five minutes before the ceremony begins.

"Goddamn, why the fuck was this place so far out of the way, had I knew it was this far I woulda' woke up earlier." Draden mutters under his breath as he enters the building, immediately taking a seat in the third row, not noticing the fact that he had sat down next to someone.

"Wait... Am I going to have to speak or something? I am his son after all... sonuva..." Draden muttered under his breath.

"Whatever, if I have to say something I'll just wing it, it's not like I have to give a speech, just a few words in respect or something like that." Draden continued muttering to himself, still oblivious to the person sitting next to him, eavesdropping on his muttering.

"Just say whatever your feelings toward the guy were, no need to be so formal bout' it." Said the girl sitting next to Draden with a wave of her hand. "No need to get stressed." She said in a familiar yet not familiar tone.

"Ugh, no need to be stressed, maybe not for friends like you or whatever, I'm his only son, I kinda do have to stress a little." Draden replied without lifting his head to look at the girl sitting next to him.

"Well whatever, just don't blame me when you have a heart attack."

"Yeah a heart attack, my blood pressure isn't the best in the world, but a little bit of stress _is_ healthy ya know."

"I'm just saying not to get too stressed, there are worse things that can happen ya know, if someone's death makes you stress like this, I'd hate to think if something serious happened."

Draden turned his head to look at the girl he was talking to. "Serious!? You're implying tha-" Draden cut himself off when he finally noticed who he was talking to. It was the girl dressed in white from the night beforehand. "Wait a fucking second, you're-" This time, Draden was cut off by the girl's voice.

"Don't worry bout' that right now, if you wanna talk, we can _after_ the funeral is over with."

"What makes you think that I'll trust you to-" Draden was cut off a third time when the girl dug her heal into his foot.

"Ok then, let me put this simply, **sit** the fuck still and wait here until the damn funeral is over, **then** and only **then** will we speak, got it?"

Draden just glared at the girl as she glared back at him. "...I still don't trust you, but I doubt you'd attack me in public, but don't think for a second that means I'm dropping my guard."

"Whatever." The girl said in a exasperated tone as the proceedings slowly began.

While the man standing over the funeral rambled on about dust this and remnant that, Draden took the time to study his surroundings. The building looked like a cathedral, much bigger on the inside than the outside, many stained glass windows adorned the spacious, dusty room.

"If I end up in a fight with that girl, I think this room will prove advantageous for her, I'm used to fighting in cluttered areas like forests, but with this much room, there won't be much time for trickery or deception, it'd be a straight out fight, and I don't know who'd win, she seems pretty skilled from what I saw the other day... I caught her off guard before, I didn't engage her fairly though, I don't know how strong she really is... I should be careful." Draden thought to himself and the man presiding over the funeral asked if anyone had words to speak about Roman before the funeral ended.

"Well, I suppose this is my cue..." Draden got up and slowly walked to the front of the room, taking note of all the people in the room, two women sitting with a tall burly man in a black suit, a woman with green hair, a few various other people, and at the back of the room, was the old man who directed him to his hotel days earlier. "Welp here goes nothing." Draden whispered to himself before starting to speak.

"I may be Roman's son... but... to be honest, I never really knew him that well, many years ago, when I was a kid, he left. I didn't hear his name for years and years, then, as soon as I start to wonder where he is and what he's been up to, I get a letter telling me he died... I finally get to see him again after all these years... but he's resting in a casket... it kinda pisses me off, he acted like he was the king of the world, made me wait so long to see him again, but... even so... When I was a kid looked up to him, he was a prideful and surprisingly gentle man... and a good father... he wasn't perfect, not in the slightest, but he was someone worth remembering, his flair, his talent, his attitude, it just rubs off on people, makes then remember him... or... maybe, it just makes him hard to forget rather than easy to remember... either way, I know most who knew him will miss him, one way or another..." Draden let a overcast look come across his face as he finished speaking and went back to his seat to sit down.

"Well, that was a little more than expect... good job kid, or somethin' like that." the girl said as Draden sat down

"I don't feel like I did his memory justice, I mean , I resented the guy with a burning passion after he left, and yet a still loved him at the same time, but I feel like I didn't put enough hate into it or love."

"It's whatever, anyway, We'll talk once the rest of this is over, just wait for me by the front doors."

"You know if this is a trap, I won't hesitate to cut you down, Right?"

"Whatever kid, just shut up, I'm tired of listening to whole 'I don't trust you' Shtick."

"Whether you care or not is your problem, I'm just curious about how you knew my father and why."

"Like I said, we'll talk later, now **shut**. **up**. You're starting to give me a headache." The girl signed as she rubbed her temples with her fingers.

* * *

The funeral eventually ends, most of the people there leave immediately, including the small woman dressed in white, however Draden stayed behind to talk with man residing over the ceremony as he had something to give to Draden.

"This is your father's will, it was addressed to you, so you can have it, take care..." And with those few words even the man who resided over the ceremony left.

"My father's will eh... I'll read this later, as for now." Draden tucked the will away in his coat pocket and walked out the front doors of the building and took a look around. Upon finding that no one was nearby, walked behind the building, finding the woman in white leaning against the wall idly.

"Took you long enough kid." She said as she walked up to Draden. "OK Draden, here's the deal.

Your father, Roman Torchwick, was Vale's biggest crime-lord, wanted for grand theft, multiple murders and all the like, he was the leader of the Torchwick crime syndicate, and in this syndicate, I was his right hand woman, and he told me, and I quote 'Neo, I have a son... if I ever die, however unlike that may be, make sure he takes my place' Draden Torchwick, you are Roman's son and his chosen heir to the syndicate, and I'm here to make sure you take his place... more or less."

"Ok... ok, ok, ok, ok, ok... So... let me get this all straight. First off, my dad, Roman Torchwick, was a crime-lord and crime syndicate leader?"

"Yes"

"And he chose me to take his place?"

"Yes"

"And you expect me to believe you?"

"Whether you do or not doesn't matter, either way I'm dragging you to the base to take over."

"A, Like hell you are and B, why me, can't you just do it by your fucking self?"

"A, just watch me B, I respect Roman enough to listen to his last wish, now, the rest of the explanation can wait for later, right now, your coming with me!" Neo said as she jumped up and grabbed Draden by the ear then started dragging him along with her.

"Hey! Ow, ow, ow, watch it, For the love of dust please stop, god no, just, ahhh, please stop." Draden hurried and pained tone, while bending at an awkward angle to try and keep up with Neo.

"Hey, you asked for it, don't blame me." Neo said without turning to look at Draden. "We're close to the base as is so it won't be all too long of a walk, just shut up and deal with it."

"Just let go of my _fucking_ ear woman, please, you don't understand how much it hurts."

Neo let go of Draden's ear, turned to him a said "Ok then, I'll let go of you ear, but to make sure you don't run away I'll drag you by your-" Neo cut herself off when she grabbed at Draden crotch and squeeze far too hard. "Is that any better, my _dear._ _new._ _leader?_ " Neo said with an incredibly smug look on her face.

Draden tried to from words but all that came out of his mouth was an most unintelligible noise followed by a few choice words, a incredibly pained expression visible on his face the entire time. "FFFFFUCK! **Dust fucking** , WHY, **THE FUCK** , god why, crazy ass **FUCKING** WOMAN."

"See! That's what happens when you piss me off, take mind of that in the future, okay~ It would be unwise to have me as your enemy~?" Neo said looking at Draden with a unfittingly peppy-happy voice and a very psychotic look on her face.

Draden ignoring the fact the it would be very wise to not piss the girl off, spoke back to her in a very challenging and aggressive tone."I swear to dust woman, **I will** have my revenge."

Neo, wanting to make her point, squeezed the poor faunus's ball ever harder. "The name's Neo, **N-E-O** _don't forget it, or you'll regret it_." Said Neo tauntingly.

"!" A even more pained look appeared on Draden's face and tears started to form in the corners of his eyes. "Ok, ok, you win, just please have some fucking mercy!"

"Very good, now make sure you _behave_ like a _good boy_ , ok." Neo said in a mocking manner before slightly releasing her grip a bit and continuing to drag Draden all the way back to the Syndicate HQ by his nuts.

* * *

Once they arrived at the warehouse which seemed to be operating as the base of operations where a relatively large group of people were hard at work moving crates, checking weapons, training, and preparing for whatever mission they had next.

"Welcome home... or welcome to your eternal resting place, depending on how you act." Neo said

" **CAN YOU LET GO OF MY FUCKING NUTS, PLEASE!** "

"I thought you said you wouldn't cause any more trouble for me, we weren't lying now, _were we~_?" Neo said tightening her grip on Draden's balls once more.

"Just stop, please, I won't run or anything, I am curious about this whole thing myself... just, please let go of my nuts."

"I'll trust you for now, but if you try and run, You might find yourself six feet under, understand?" Neo said, tightening her grip even further before letting go and walking forward, making a hand motion signalling Draden to come with her.

"Whatever, Like I said I won't run, I want to get to the bottom of all this shit before I make any decisions."

"Blah blah blah bullshit whatever, I stopped listening after 'I Won't run', save your breath kid, you'll need it."

"If everything she said is true and she really did work with my dad, I wonder if he had to put up with this bullshit too?" Draden thought to himself as he followed Neo through an assortment of hallways until they entered a relatively large room with a table and television situated in the far right corner, where a tall, silverish-gray haired male sat, working maintenance on what looked like a artificial leg.

"Hey, Mercury! Roman's replacement is finally here! Neo shouted across the room to the boy, who promptly finished what he was doing, rolled his pant leg down, and walked over to where Neo was standing.

"It took you long enough, I have a hundred things to do and their all more important than waiting for this guy... that being said, I don't wanna waste any more time here so lets get down to business." The man walked up to Draden and looked him straight in the eyes.

"My boss, Cinder Fall, was a business associate of Roman's, however, now that he's dead the deal we made in null and void, so a new agreement needs to be made between the new leader of the Syndicate, you, and Cinder, however, since Cinder is very busy, I've come here to strike a new deal."

"I haven't even agreed to any of this yet and people are just bombarding me with shit." Draden thought to himself. "T'would probably be wise not to mention I'm not part of all this, I'll just go along with what he says, maybe I can get some good money out of this if I'm lucky."

"Well? What's the proposition then? What do you require of me and what do I get in return?" Draden asked aloud.

"Ok, we'll offer you the same deal we offered Roman, we'll give you 50,000 lien every month, but in exchange, you and your men will work on our missions and operations, basically, we're hiring you and your men to work for us."

"Hmm... 50,000 lien ehh? make it 75,000 and you got yourself a deal." Draden said, greed, albeit slight, noticeable in his voice.

"75,000 is too much, we can do 50,000, that's it, take it or leave it."

"You sure you can't do at least 60,000?"

"Like I said, take it or leave it."

"Something tells me that bartering wouldn't work here... _Fine_ , I'll do it."

"Ok then, give me your scroll number, I'll contact you in a few weeks with your first set of instructions." Mercury said as he took a wad of bills out of his back pocket and handed it to Draden.

"I look forward to our future business." Draden said before handing his scroll over to mercury so he could get Draden's contact info.

"Well then, now that this shit is out of the way, I have better places to be, and don't want to waste any more time around here." Mercury made a peace sign with his fingers as he walked out the door, leave Draden and Neo alone.

"Well then... I just fucked myself into this, didn't I?"

"Welcome to the team, captain, it's a pleasure to have you aboard." Neo said before elbowing Draden in his side.

"Great... Just, fucking great... Why can my life never be simple? Why does everything happen to me and only me? Why in the name of dust am I even putting up with this bullshit?"

"Your life can never be simple because your a Torchwick, Everything happens to you because your a Torchwick and your putting up with this bullshi-"

"Lemme guess, because I'm a Torckwick?"

"See? Your already starting to get a gist of things, now if you would excuse me, I'm running on like zero hours of sleep and the deprivation is already fucking with me enough as is, so I'm going to go rest."

"Wait? Your implying you act differently when you have a reasonable amount of rest?"

"I'm a bit less psychotic and more irritable when I don't get any sleep."

"Less psychotic? Umm... do you think you can ca-"

"No, I won't give up sleep, nice try, but fuck you. Anyway, I'm out."

"One last thing."

"Ugh, what is it?"

"I know I'm, though not by my own choosing, the leader now, does that mean I can't go out in public, I kinda wanted to spend a few days exploring Vale before ya know, become a Vale's next biggest crime ring leader and all that shit."

"People don't know who you are yet, feel free to do whatever, just don't get killed or arrested, now, as I was trying to do before, good afternoon and go fuck yourself." And with those words of wisdom, Neo flipped Draden the bird and left the room, leaving Draden alone.

"Welp, I've been here in Vale for a total of like, three days, and in that time, I've maimed one shithead and become the inherit leader of Vale's biggest crime syndicate because my dad was apparently a crime-lord..." Draden spoke to himself while pacing around. "My greed has gotten myself into a situation I can't get out of, lest they kill me or my family or some shit. Ugh... I guess it's time to brush up on my logistics and try to figure out how the hell to lead a crime syndicate... looks like tomorrow will be study day... "

Draden walked over to the table mercury was sitting at and took a seat on the chair, just to sit and contemplate all the events that had transpired in the hours prior, and how to go about his future career as a member of the Vale underworld.

* * *

 **Valyrym: Well? Was that worth the wait, it is the longest chapter in the story, I hope it was good as I think it is, well, while you guys are reading this I wanted to mention a show that I'm supporting call "Chronexia and the Eight Seals" It's a pseudo-anime that is being animated by Izune Animation, it has the potential to be as big as RWBY if it gets enough love, however it's underfunded right now, so if you can spare a few bucks every month, go** **help em out, show em the RWBY community love that everyone knows. Anyway, with that aside, please review my work, any and all criticism is accepted, and please spread the word of this fic, I want as many people as possible to see it, anyway Love you all :^)**

 **Prick:** **Bear in mind, I've yet to beta this chapter and I never beta his author notes. That being said, if you guys are finishing this up and already tired of waiting for Valyrym, feel free to check out my Jaune-centric love affair fiasco, Lunar Rose here on the site, it's pushing 60K with the next update which will be out any day now! But enough shame less self advertisement. Ciao!**


	7. I'm sorry

**Valyrym: Hey... yeah... i'm sorry... I've had no motivation recently... I still want to write the story, it's just going to take a while more... sorry guys**


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